Grad Definition and 1000 Threads

Hi, I'm currently a second-year undergrad from the US perpetually stressed about grad apps. I'm interested in high energy theory and phenomenology.

Can someone tell me if i am wrong ?

Hi everyone. I'm currently a 3rd year quantitative/mathematical/cognitive psychology graduate student in a PhD program finishing my masters after this semester. In it, I'm using the mathematics of quantum mechanics to model cognitive phenomena. I was accepted into a physics PhD program as an...

My background: I live in the US and I graduated last June with my BS in physics. Went to an alright school and was an alright student (3.52 overall GPA, 3.49 major) with minors in math and CS. I did 2 internships, but my first one I basically did nothing, and my second was basically translating...

I’m starting my PhD in Organic Chemistry this Fall. I want to review all of undergraduate Organic Chemistry and I’m trying to develop a plan of attack. I did alright in lectures but not perfectly and did quite well in labs. I don’t want to be bombarded in grad school and want to have a proper...

In my brief time here I have encountered a number of threads that give every indication of being a specific technical question from a grad student on their research. In at least one instance, the conclusion that the question was posed by a grad student is consistent with the poster's profile...

In 2017 I graduated with a B.S. in physics and went on to a physics Ph.D. program in the fall. After six months, though, because of mental health problems I left grad school on a "medical leave of absence" from which I chose not to return in fall 2018. After job-searching for a while, I settled...

Recently graduated with a degree in Computer Science. I have been sending applications daily and got to final rounds with a FAANG company but they went on a hiring freeze. I recently again got a final interview with another FAANG company at the end of the month and have an online assessment with...

I need advice! I know exactly what I want to do in physics: I am already doing research at my university as an undergrad and I plan to make a career out of it after I get my PhD. But I have had the absolute worst time with general motivation due to a decade of depression. I am so scared that...

I will try to keep this concise. I have always loved physics, but was convinced by my parents to pursue biology for career in medicine. Over my undergrad, it really became clear to me that I love physics, and want to pursue a career in the field (a Master's, and then a PHD). I am currently in...

So I’m a 3rd year mechatronics engineering student, I wanted to get into grad school for engineering or maybe even physics. But after this semester I don’t know if I can actually get in or if I’m even smart enough to. I purposely split my 3rd year up and I’m only taking 3 courses this semester...

Hi my name is Idan. I plan to study for a physics Bachelor at Israel, my homeland. although is way too early I'd like to proceed towards higher education as well, particularly in the US. The problem is that in Israel there is no physics internships and research projects offered for students at...

Hello, so i have an interesting schooling history and was wondering how that would effect my chances of getting into grad schools. i went to community college for a couple of years but due to deaths in the family and severe financial hardships i really struggled attending and eventually...

Grad school courses are hard, but how to maintain at least a 3.7 GPA? That's it, I'm sick of caring about GPA, and consider in grad school this is my last time doing tests, I want to let myself go a bit and not get a perfect GPA. I don't want more burnouts in grad school. I'd rather focus on...

I was in graduate school for an Applied Physics PhD program for 3 years, where I got my Master's and took all the required classes for the PhD. I left because I wanted to try my hand at teaching, and I LOVED it. Now I am 34 years old, and I am wondering if there is any possibility of going back...

Hello! I am wondering which grad schools to apply to because I honestly don't understand the grad school admission process. It involves a lot more than undergrad admissions- now I need to apply for TA or research positions etc. Also, I have been told that the school choice is more important for...

Hey everyone, I'm coming to the end of my Mechanical Engineering B.S. degree and I've been in the process of applying to mechanical and aerospace PhD programs. I want to do research in fluid mechanics; I have some expereience in hypersonics from a Research Expereince for Undergraduates NSF...

Hello everyone, [I underline portions of the text that are most essential to my enquiry ( 2 questions at the bottom). I immensely appreciate the generous act of reading everything otherwise.] Background Info: North African, female-identifying, 16, below average ECs, no awards, no notable...

Hello, I hold a BS in mathematics and want to pursue a career in physics. Is there any way where I can directly join a physics grad program from my current background? What are the options available? And would it be better to pursue an MS in applied math and then switch to physics? Would a good...

Hi everyone, This may (or may not) be a silly question to ask but I figured I would throw it up on here and see where it takes me. I'm a senior ME major and I am currently looking into and applying to MAE (ME/Aerospace) PhD programs and I was wondering if it would be possible/realistic to take...

Hi all, I graduated in 2017 with a B.A. in Mathematics and a Computer Science Minor, but I always wish I had been able to squeeze in more physics classes (I've only taken a very basic intro course at a community college right after high school). I'm currently working in IT and am pretty...

Let’s start things off straight: I LOVE physics. I love the opportunity to understand the world more in depth and mathematically and have had good experiences with all my professors in all of my classes. I have loved the teaching experience I have had as a several-time TA, as well as the deeper...

[Mentor Note -- thread moved to the Academic Guidance forum] Oy vey! Is this allowed? I didn't post this on academic advising because this is more of a lament and honestly I don't think there's anything new that that can be said. I'd rather have internet bots read this as opposed to crying on...

Hello, First I would like to say thank you to anyone who contributes to this feed. I recently received an offer from a Graduate School for a Masters in Physics. I am very excited to continue my education, however, I am not sure if I am ready. I am wondering if anyone would like to share...

I got a B- in two physics courses. I'm a senior and it is my last semester. What do you think my chances are of getting in? One of these was a problem solving course from a few years ago and I got a B- in quantum because I didn't study angular momentum operators (The last thing we did in class)...

Hello, I know there are countless threads asking if you can go to grad school in Physics with an Engineering degree, and I know that the answer depends on my score on the GRE. I am not asking this. What I want to ask is: supposing I have a good GRE score but am coming from Engineering, can I...

Hello, I recently graduated from my university with a B.S in Astrophysics, and a minor in Mathematics. Through my undergrad I have done undergraduate research on pulsars, and even developed and coded an app to help catalog and database pulsar candidates, with the help of graduate students and a...

Due to not having any money after financial aid this semester (also covid, no job, etc.) I don't have money to afford to take the physics GRE. I do however work in a lab as a research assistant and have research experience. I'd like to get into a school for astrophysics potentially. Any...

Hello, I am in my last year of undergrad and wanted a good book of diverse exercises to serve both as a memory refresher on my physics and as a fun pass time for this summer. Altho my goal is something that can span most of undergrad physics, I am not looking for anything easy and would enjoy...

Hello everyone! So I've been accepted into a Physics Ph.D for Cosmology at UC Davis and I am waiting to hear back from A&M, Minnesota and 3 others where I am currently waitlisted: Hawaii, Ohio State and Illinois. My university, I believe, will offer its students a choice to either get a letter...

I got a C last semester in elementary differential equations. It was an online class using ProctorU and I always had technical difficulties, so while my homework category was a 95% my test category was around a 60%. I am a spring-semester sophomore right now and my GPA is 3.611. If I retake...

Greetings everyone. I am an undergrad currently majoring in Computer Science with a minor in Physics. I entered college as a physics student because I wanted to pursue astrophysics as a career. After my first 1.5 years of courses and a summer research experience, I concluded that a career in...

Hello Forumgoers, I know there are probably a million 'what are my chances?' posts on here, so I apologize if I'm missing an obvious source, I'm new to the forum. I am applying to grad schools, and understand that I have no chance at top schools, but I was wondering if anyone could name safety...

Hello everyone! I'm an international student applying for Ph.D programs for fall 2020 (mostly Astronomy, specifically Cosmology; but some are in Neutrino Physics). My qualifications: Undergrad institution: US univ ranked 100+ by US News with very good neutrino Physics program Cumulative GPA...

Hi all. I am an international student. I am considering applying for physics grad program in North America. I had very low GPA in my first two years in university (around 2.00) and later dropped out of school voluntarily. I managed to get into a university few years ago and ended up with...

I'm a 2nd year physics student (Thailand) and in the freshman year I was goofing around the campus because I thought the freshman courses were easy resulting in a C+ and a B in Biology. (The exams were far more demanding than I thought) . However,I did quite well on the other courses. -I'm...

Hi Folks, I am finishing up my last year in undergrad (physics with a math minor) and am searching for potential grad schools. My areas of interest are pretty much exclusively in Gravitation (specially theoretical study of general relativity) and Physics Education Research, with a bit of...

I'm reading div grad curl for my math methods class, and I came across this question: "Using arrows of the proper magnitude and direction, sketch each of the following vector functions: (a) iy + jx, (b) (i + j)/√2 I don't understand the notation. Why is there an y and x next to the i and j in...

Hello! I'm a senior in high school and I plan on getting a bachelors in computer engineering. I want to minor is astronomy (or double major although I heard engineering is very demanding so I would prefer to minor astronomy). When I complete the four years, and if I realize that I want to be an...

Hello everyone, I currently have a 2.8 GPA after my sophomore year. I am working towards getting my BS in Physics with two minors, Computer Science and Mathematics. I know that my GPA is low to get into Grad school at this moment but I believe that I will be able to pull the GPA up to a 3.3 by...

I am graduating with a bachelors in Physics next year and I found an interest in Proton Beam Therapy. What post graduate degree would align with PBT?

Hi All, I just completed a degree in physics and (pure) math and I am planning on applying to grad school in the fall. I'm mostly interested in applying to physics graduate programs, but I was wondering if my background was strong enough to the following applied math programs: Stony Brook...

Hi everyone. In 2017, I received a bachelors degree in physics. I liked the subject and wanted to go to graduate school for something more practical, so I did. A year ago, I failed out of a PhD program in engineering. I was the worst student at that point. I was too shy to ask questions in...

I would like to ask if anyone has been admitted to a graduate school(US) straight to 2nd year after a theoretical masters MSc degree in the UK. I am asking because I would really like to study in the US, preferably on top universities but I don't want to waste another year taking essentially...

I'm starting a physics PhD program in the fall. I asked a current student what textbooks are used, and was surprised that the textbook for electrodynamics was not Jackson. I got the impression that Jackson was the standard. E.g., My undergraduate institution (a top physics school) uses Jackson...

I was speaking with my prof about the requirements for the applied physics major track offered at my school, and she said some very surprising things. Just for context, I’m interested in pursuing observational astrophysics/astronomy in grad school later. She said that I can skip diff equations...

Hey Everyone. So basically I'm having tonnes of anxiety about my future and would like a bit of a reality check on where I stand and what I will be able to achieve. I go to one of the best universities in the US for undergrad Physics, yet my GPA is on the lower side (3.1). This university was...

Hi, so some background. I am an undergrad just now finishing my second year in my biophysics degree. I wanted to go into biomedical engineering, I understand that this is an insanely competitive field. My GPA is embarrassingly low. There are some reasons behind it, but everyone has their reasons...

Program? I am an Australian student, may think about studying in America (saw video of Andrew Dottson mentioning it), in the future. Is it possible to take grad maths courses, e.g. algebraic topology/geometry, complex analysis, representation-theory/lie-groups, PDEs, Measure Theory, Functional...

I've always wanted to be a Physicist and become a researcher. I'm particularly interested in particle physics and quantum computing. I have BS Computer Engineering and MS Computer Science degrees and have been working as a programmer for more than 5 years. How should I go towards a Physics...